Check Us Out On...

Share Us...

Canadian Musician magazine is Canada's magazine for professional and amateur musicians. Published since 1979, the magazine covers prominent Canadian artists, the latest gear technique and the business of music.

Published bi-monthly, Canadian Musician features regular columns on Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Percussion, Brass, Woodwinds, Vocal, MIDI, Business, Songwriting, Live Sound, Recording and On-Line Music. Also included are classified ads, opportunities for musicians, new releases and new products. Visit:www.canadianmusician.com

Latest From Canadian Musician:

Contact East 2015 Now Accepting Artist Applications - Friday, February 27th, 2015[caption id="attachment_3167" align="alignright" width="300"] Matt Andersen is one of the many artists... Read More

It's hard not to feel like you're always getting the short end of the stick in the music industry or that there's some big inside joke you're not a part of, whether you're a developing artist or budding music industry professional. In this blog Sari Delmar, President of Audio Blood and her team, will give you tips on navigating the independent music industry in Canada!

Sari Delmar got her start in the industry at a young age as a freelance writer for top music publications such as Exclaim! and Clash Magazine (UK). Visit:www.audioblood.com

The Latest Ticket to Ride :

5 Things the Music Industry Needs to Stop B**ching About - Friday, February 27th, 2015
Managers, agents, publicists, artists, we love to b**ch! I’m the first one to admit that sometim... Read More

From the studio to the stage, the world of digital audio is an ever-changing place where new technology creates new instruments, new types of music, and new implications on existing instruments and music. In this blog, digital audio artist Aaron Collier offers advice from experience and explorations on finding the warmth, the wonder, the consistency, and the curious aspects of making music and art with ones and zeros..

Aaron Collier is a keyboardist, controllerist, and composer. For more than a decade Aaron has consistently toured Canada as well as the U.S., China, and Bermuda with his band Scientists of Sound and previously with the now-defunct Jimmy Swift Band. He¹s a composer for live theatre, film, and TV with various companies and is continuously raising his own bar on what is possible in the world of live digital audio performance. Visitwww.aaroncollier.ca

Latest From Making Music in the Matrix:

Performing with Ableton Live Drum Racks - Friday, August 8th, 2014A few weeks ago I made an excellent discovery: ABLETON DRUM RACKS ARE AMAZING. They're super versatile and very easy on your CPU, meaning you can load up tons of them into an instrument rack for a whole set of joyous, live, pad-mashing action. In a nutshell, here's what I do:
I load up a Drum Rack onto a MIDI track in Ableton. I've created a template that I use as my starting point that I call "00 BASIC" - the zeros are there so it's the first... Read More

Jason Raso's "Jay Walking" will focus on all things bass. Topics will include teaching, learning, gigging, listening, influences, gear, and just about anything that comes to Jason's mind. (And a lot comes to Jason's mind). Also, look for artist interviews and more surprises...

Jason Raso has a funk heart and a jazz head. They are hard wired together by the four strings of his bass guitar and an innate ability to craft music that will turn you into a bobble head. For over 20 years, Raso has pursued the groove to such excellence that Exclaim Magazine declares, ³Jason Raso¹s bass is a full-on orchestra of ground vibrating pleasure.² Jason maintains a busy teaching and gigging schedule and is endorsed by Spector Basses, TC Electronic Bass Amplifiers, Lava Cables, and DR Strings.Visitwww.jasonrasomusic.com

Latest From Jay Walking:

Spice up your practice routine! - Wednesday, February 25th, 2015I do my best to keep a solid practice routine going, but sometimes you just need to change things up. The last thing I want is for my routine to go stale. This year I thought I would try something a little different. Each month I will choose a different player to study. Now, it doesn't have be a bass player. For example, in March I plan on tackling guitarist Wes Montgomery!
January I went with bassist Gary Willis (Tribal Tech) and learned some... Read More

In this blog, Dale provides songwriting tips and insights and offers questions to engage the reader and have them share their own views and opinions!

Dale Boyle is a Gaspe-born, Montreal-based folk, roots, and blues singer/songwriter. He is an International Narrative Song Competition Winner, Lys Blues Songwriter of the Year award winner, and founder of Song Routes (SongRoutes.com), an online magazine that explores the art of songwriting.
His PhD research at McGill University explored the role of music as a teaching tool and Dale has taught McGill Education courses including "Music Listening for Education" and "Listening for Learning." Visitwww.daleboyle.com.

Latest From Exploring Your Song Routes:

Writing a Hit Song! - Thursday, January 15th, 2015Check out this article from Ralph Murphy on writing a #1 hit song...food for thought! Click HERE!
... Read More

Vocal and performance insight, tips and techniques to validate what you are doing correctly and help you self diagnose and fix your challenges.

Angela Kelman is best known as lead singer of the Juno and multiple award winning group, Farmer's Daughter. For the last ten years she has been coaching hundreds of performers and creating her 5 Point Singing System vocal program. Visit:www.angelakelman.com

Latest From Step Up To The Mic:

How To Sing Beatles Vocal Parts - Monday, February 2nd, 2015
Quote Of The Day:
"Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm no... Read More

Each week the blog will focus on techniques to assist in music production, pre-production, engineering, mixing, and mastering. Features will include tips/tricks, analog and digital gear reviews, studio experiences, interviews with industry professionals, advice about working in the industry, discovering new bands, answering readers questions and more.The blog will be aimed at all experience levels from beginners to professionals.Visit:www.fadernoise.com

Latest From Other Side of the Tracks:

Other Side Of The Tracks - Tuesday, June 17th, 2014This is a great chart to help with your equalizing.
Photo source: http://www.online-mixing.com/2012/08/the-frequency-spectrum-instrument-ranges-and-eq-tips/
... Read More

Jeff Salem is a percussion clinician, educator and the owner of JS Music Studio. Jeff has performed in over 70 countries and is active performing clinics and workshops at music stores and schools throughout the GTA. e is a writer for Canadian Musician and Modern Drummer magazine. His resume of diverse musical experience has had him perform with Diana Krall, Rob Tardik, Robin Ford, The Chieftains, Randy Bachman, Art Garfunkel, Lee Aaron, Paul Brown, Jessy J, Saints & Sinners and many more artists.

Topics discussed will include, drum tips, new gear, instructional products including books, DVD's, drummers of all genres, ages and levels. We will feature drummers from many new bands as well as classic bands. Hand percussion topics including drum circles will be discussed as well. Looking forward on taking you all on a percussive journey.Visit:www.salemdrum.com

Latest From the Noise Organizer:

STRIKE ZONE by Wes Crawford - Monday, February 9th, 2015
Greetings fellow drummers, in my 20 plus years of teaching drums I have always found it a challenge to get beginner students to be cons... Read More

Paul Lau is a Digital Audio MIDI Specialist and contributing columnist/reviewer for Canadian Musician and Professional Sound magazines.
He has been the keyboard/technology manager at Steve's Music in Toronto and AXE Music's Mega Store in Calgary. He has also worked as a product specialist for Roland Canada and a post-mastering editor for Universal Music Canada. Presently, he is owner of GetSetMusic and is Producing, teaching and playing music full time. He is part of the cool Christian pop duo Scatter17.Visit:www.DocAudioTech.com.

Paul will be exploring the ever-changing digital technology of the music world, looking for the latest and coolest music software, virtual instruments, plug-ins, and anything MIDI. He'll also be checking out the latest music-related apps for your mobile devices. And if that isn't Enough, expect new innovations in hardware instruments and connective devices!

Latest From Hot New Tech Toys:

Roland VT-3 Voice Transformer - Saturday, January 24th, 2015VT-3: Voice Transformer
Easy Voice Transformation with Vocoder, Lo-Fi Effects, and Synths You Can Sing
Aggressively processed vocals are common in electronic music today, but producing these effects easily and reproducing them live has been a challenge—until now. With the VT-3 Voice Transformer, you can smoothly alter pitch and formant in real time to introduce heavily processed vocal sounds into your studio tracks and stage performances with... Read More

Welcome to the world premiere of the Blong - not just a blog and certainly not just about the song... although mostly about writing them. The Blong is where we will test drive the collection of nuts and bolts that we use as a ride to the unscheduled blind dates with our muse. It is now believed that if we attempt to improve our ability to write songs with only the conventional tools and texts called songcraft, our songs will certainly perish; however, if we do not at least look at those conventional materials, our songs are left to always wonder what it would have been like to have that information inform them. So much to consider... Welcome to the Blong side..

James Linderman lives and works at theharmonyhouse, a music lesson, songwriting, and pre-production recording studio in Newmarket, ON. Along with in-studio lessons, James also teaches guitar and coaches songwriting over Skype to students all over the world. James is the Canadian representative of a 21-member international and off-campus academic advisory board for The Berklee School of Music in Boston known as Berkleemusic Ambassadors. He has a Canadian University (York) and American College (EOSC) education in music theory, composition, and journalism. jlinderman@berkleemusic.com, www.theharmonyhouse.ca

Latest From Where The Blog & The Song Become The Blong:

- Saturday, January 24th, 2015Using Compositional Tessellation in Contemporary Songwriting
by James Linderman
??
Imitation isn’t just a sincere form of flattery, it’s also a good way for novice melody-makers to hone their craft
At the start of the industrial revolution in North America, there were a few developments that converged to popularize a particular form of academic composition. One of the factors was the mass production of the parlour piano – what would be ... Read More

An in-depth discussion of all things to do with music creation, including songwriting, producing, engineering, and mixing....

Arun Chaturvedi is a record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has written and produced for a host of up-and-coming artists including James Struthers, Flo, and JUNO-nominated Little Hawk. His film and TV credits include Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Casino Jack, Pretty Little Liars, Degrassi and many more. Arun was named Producer of the Year at the 2011 Western Canadian Music Awards. He can be reached at arun.chaturvedi@bell.net, www.arunchaturvedi.com

The concept of Drifter’s writings is to inspire, inform, and indulge your love of professional touring and concert production with everything from helpful tips to real life problems and solutions that he experiences while at the shop or on the road. From audio to lighting, rigging, and shipping, this blog will dive head-first into the world of production and will share stories and information from the front lines of the Canadian concert industry.

Mark “The Drifter” Desloges is an audio technician at Tour Tech East and freelance live sound engineer/production manager. In his many years of professional touring he has crossed Canada, the United States, and ventured to China. He has shared the road with acts such as Cancer Bats, Classified, and Johnny Reid. He can be reached at markthedrifter@gmail.com

Latest Letters From The Front Lines:

Festival season is upon us... - Thursday, June 12th, 2014As summer is finally poking it's head out, technicians are getting busier. After a spring of prepping kits for summer tours it's time for me to switch gears and start thinking about this years round of summer festivals. As always I have a few on my plate, and I'm excited! It really is shaping up to be a fun season. Hope to see lots of beautiful smiling Canadian faces out there this year. Expect Lots of crazy stories, videos, and pictures to follo... Read More

This blog will explore the roots of traditional country picking, incorporating Travis Picking methods,
and how banjo and pedal steel techniques influenced guitarists and led to a unique type of approach.
We'll look at the lives and influence of country guitar icons like Merle Travis, Jimmy Bryant,
Chet Atkins, Grady Martin, Roy Nichols, Don Rich, and the Western Swing side of things, as well as
how modern players like Brent Mason and Johnny Hiland and others interpret the greats.

Jeremy Rouse is a Toronto-based guitarist and boutique effects pedal builder.
He has played guitar for the national tours of Jesus Christ Superstar, starring Ted Neeley,
and the 30th anniversary tour of Cats. He currently teaches and plays in Toronto with
The Swing Shift Little Big Band and his own instrumental group, Pre Season Draft. For more information,
visit www.jeremyrouse.weebly.com and www.rousetech.weebly.com.

Latest From High Plains Drifter:

Open string licks - Wednesday, October 8th, 2014Bill Keiths melodic style of banjo influenced some of these open string licks for guitar. Combining fretted notes with sustaining open strings underneath gives the illusion that the guitar has more strings than just six sometimes. It can also give a harp like effect, not quite as convincing as the harp harmonic technique but that topic would require its own article.
Example 1 is in the key of D and employs the reverse banjo roll that was discu... Read More